First, a bright note via our local public health commissioner:
Flattening the curve matters far more for children than it ever did for adults. Why? Because study after study has shown that children requiring intensive care for Covid-19—especially intubation and mechanical ventilation—have fared far better than adults have. In fact, unlike in adults, a towering majority of children requiring mechanical ventilation for Covid-19 do manage to survive. Among adults requiring mechanical ventilation last year, around two-thirds survived, and one-third died, though various improvements in how we manage Covid-19 have probably lowered the fatality rate to under 30%. Meanwhile, one study in the CDC’s journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that among the 5% of children hospitalized specifically for Covid-19 who also required mechanical ventilation, all of them (10 intubated children out of the 203 hospitalized covered in the study) survived. An earlier and much larger study found that 89% of children placed on mechanical ventilators survived (though the final number may have been a bit worse because there were still a few children on ventilators at the time that study was published, and those outcomes were not reported).
This means that flattening the pediatric curve to make sure that we have enough ventilators (and trained staff) could save the lives of a far higher percent of critically ill children than adults. This alone could amount to hundreds if not thousands of pediatric lives saved.
Second, a quick observation. On Saturday, there was a bus roll over east of Syracuse. 30 patients were transported to SUNY Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse; 27 were sent to the 99-bed hospital in Auburn. I wonder what that emergency response would look like in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi or Florida?
Third, I realize it’s a vice to get some grim satisfaction reading accounts of COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers who are dead or dying. (I indulge that vice on the Leopards Ate my Face Reddit for those interested.) But this fucking guy deserves to be mocked as God calls him home:
Most days during the coronavirus pandemic, Cardinal Raymond L. Burke could be found strolling down the streets of Rome maskless and carrying rosary beads. The 73-year-old conservative cardinal was an early critic of social distancing and, later, an unabashed skeptic of the vaccine.
On Tuesday, Burke announced he had tested positive for the coronavirus. Now, the cardinal is in a hospital bed in his native Wisconsin, breathing with the help of a ventilator. […]
During the global pandemic, Burke spoke out against vaccine mandates, claiming the practice “violates the integrity of its citizens.”
“While the State can provide reasonable regulations for the safeguarding of health, it is not the ultimate provider of health. God is,” he said during a May 2020 address. […]
Burke also repeated false information about vaccines, claiming that some believe there should be a “microchip … placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment he or she can be controlled by the state regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine.”
This guy’s Wikipedia entry reads like an extended essay on how to be an asshole.
Elizabelle
Correction: As Satan calls Cardinal Burke home.
MattF
One hopes, as the post says, that this is satire. But I have the sinking feeling that it isn’t.
ETA: It is satire.
NeenerNeener
Reminds me of that “joke” about the guy on the roof during the flood waving off the boat and the helicopter trying to save him.
Spanky
There are a few steps left out of the story between Burke roaming the streets
in search of alterboysand on a ventilator in Wisconsin. Did he manage a trans-Atlantic flight while infected? Did he know?Nah, forget it. I’m not going to bother my beautiful mind wondering.
Jerzy Russian
Wasn’t the Cardinal asking for prayers? Is he saying that God is unaware of the Cardinal’s situation, and needs to be informed of it?
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Jerzy Russian: Here’s my question: if God provides health, why did he get a COVID test and why did he go to the hospital? Why not just breathe God’s clean air until he chokes to death on God’s mucus in his lungs?
Jerzy Russian
@Spanky: Do you remember the Scene in one of the Airplane! movies where a priest is reading Altar Boy magazine? That one was way too on-target.
Spanky
@Jerzy Russian: I was made to understand that you cannot petition the Lord with prayer.
lowtechcyclist
@NeenerNeener:
Yeppers. And God will tell him, “I sent you masks, social distancing guidelines, and some incredibly effective vaccines. What more did you need from me?”
Ken
They’d send 30 patients to SUNY Upstate, and 27 to Auburn NY, obviously. They’ve already been sending COVID patients to out-of-state ICUs.
Jerzy Russian
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: I stopped going to church long ago, but I do recall something about your body being a temple and that you have an obligation to care for it.
I hardly remember anything from Catholic school, but one event stands out. There was a discussion about old people on nursing homes for some reason. The kid next to me mentioned that people there might be afraid of dying. The Sister leading the class scolded him for that ridiculous comment, saying that “you want to die”. Even as a fifth grader I could see how fucked up that was.
tom
The New Covenant was never about a grant of immunity to disease.
Hildebrand
Even Jesus, whilst being tempted in the wilderness, told Satan that you shouldn’t put God to the test – which seems a very direct refutation of the ‘faith over fear’ anti-vaxxer, anti-mask crowd.
Of course, no one could ever say that these folks have ever actually listened to anything that Jesus fella ever said.
SiubhanDuinne
I appreciate the G&S reference in the post title! Thank you!
JPL
Yesterday the closest hospital was turning away patients, because they were at 150 percent capacity. Today when I checked, they apparently have some space, but no in the ICU. Hospitals are stretched thin all across GA, except for the large Children’s Hospitals in the Atlanta area. They are operating normally, which is good news
lowtechcyclist
@Hildebrand:
Nailed it.
Gin & Tonic
Maybe, just maybe, God doesn’t give a shit whether one particular individual lives or dies.
lee
I read an unsourced comment from a nurse in New Mexico that they are already receiving Texans in their ICU.
hueyplong
@Elizabelle: I’ve been waiting for a thread about that Burke asshole.
Yesterday I decided I believe in hell after all because I choose to believe that Burke is going there instead of becoming a part of the worm ecosystem.
Chief Oshkosh
The nuns, brothers, and priests always taught me that while we can’t pray for someone to die, we can pray for that they have a swift, merciful death. This was in the context of wishing and hoping that Idi Amin would croak. It was all bullshit, this wink-and-a-nod to wishing ill on others.
Fuck it. The ONLY reason I don’t wish for a long, painful death for Burke is that he’s taking up hospital resources that could be spent on the innocents. In fact, what I really wish is that they’d roll him out the loading dock doors strapped to a gurney and “God’s will be done” on the motherfucker. A further indulgence from da Lawd would be if we could manage to get someone to video the shitbird’s last throws and upload the scene to Tiktok and YouTube.
Of course, what I wish for is very, very important…
Enhanced Voting Techniques
If Jesus didn’t fly off into the heavens by pleb class jet liner why would a Prince of the Church? He got here by private charter plan of course.
TommoRollasi
@Chief Oshkosh: only if you expressly label it a prayer
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Catholics, you don’t petition the Big Guy directly, you penitition Mary, who in turn nags Jesus until he gets the Big Guy to back off. Jewish mothers and all that.
WaterGirl
Does anyone know if The Harris Poll is legit? I got an email from them asking me to participate in a survey. I can see from googling that they are a real thing.
But I’m wondering if they have a known slant or an agenda? Or if I agree to take their survey rather hitting unsubscribe, am I going to be inundated with crap email from a bunch of places.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I mean, Mediterranean cultures always put a premium on someone clouting for you with higher authority, and Catholic culture is developed from and rooted in Mediterranean social mores..
As in, “I know a guy.” Marian intercessions are the Big Kahuna of the invocation of clout.
Roger Moore
@Hildebrand:
As it was best expressed to me, they think some words in the Bible are marked in red to indicate they’re optional.
PST
@WaterGirl: I remember Harris as the Avis of polling 50 years ago when Gallup was the only polling firm most people recognized. So it’s real, but I don’t know its current reputation.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
I have stubbornly resisted the urge to delight in the illness of others. It’s not the right thing to do. I will make an exception for the pedophile enabling Burke, who deserves everything and worse this virus can dish out.
waspuppet
If someone needs Burke’s ICU bed, pull the plug on him.
Not kidding. I’ve fcking had it.
Matt McIrvin
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: Meanwhile, Jewish rabbinic tradition specifically forbids relying on miracles to preserve life when there are concrete things you can do.
Jess
That Reddit was amazingly satisfying. I’m wanting a cigarette now and I don’t even smoke.
Spanky
@Chief Oshkosh:
“Throes”, unless His Excellency is pitching a no-hitter. Which, in a sense, he now is.
chrome agnomen
@Jess: no kidding. i’ll never get that hour back i just spent there, but i don’t regret if for the satisfaction rendered.
Uncle Cosmo
@NeenerNeener: After the prelate-skeptic newly arrived at the Pearly Gates lambastes The Big Guy for not having saved him, G*d His OwnSelf replies,
As he presses the hidden button that opens the trapdoor under the Red Beany’s feet and drops him screaming into Pandaemonium….
Uncle Cosmo
Jeebus Frackin’ Cripes, I’ve seen that movie half a dozen times (fighting for sphincter control in the midst of manic laughter) and I can’t believe I missed that!! What else did I miss? Time for viewing #7…
Ken
@Uncle Cosmo: Cue “Little Boy You’re Going to Hell” from the South Park movie.
Elizabelle
OMG. Reading more of the WaPost article about Burke, and may his soul be damned: the guy is worse than Trump in a dress. Seriously. He has said some stuff that Trump would have the sense not to spout. The WaPost reader commenters suggest removing his ass from the ventilator and handing him some rosary beads.
oldster
Major props for the Gilbert & Sullivan title.
Chief Oshkosh
@Spanky: Ha! Thanks. The nuns are rolling over in their graves. They learned me better than that!
Ken
@Elizabelle: I assume the cardinal hasn’t been in charge of a parish for a very long time. Even when I was young (well before 1983), it was the women who went to church every Sunday, and supported it the rest of the week. The men were there because the women insisted.
Elizabelle
@Ken: That’s a great point.
One of the WaPost reader commenters turned to verse:
And another was succinct: “God wanted Burke to shut up apparently. “
VOR
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: IIRC, one of the major evangelical leaders claimed he needed a private jet because commercial planes were full of demons. And not just Spirit Airlines.
Yutsano
@lee: This could be really interesting. New Mexico expanded Medicaid. That means any new arrivals should have presumptive eligibility. I wonder if that will apply to the Texans arriving (assuming this is true) and their reactions when they find out their bill was paid for. Small seeds I know but it could be interesting.
MisterForkbeard
Wait, so I guess we just need God to mandate a vaccine? Or… wait, how is requiring a vaccine for public events not a “reasonable regulation”?
Well, good news fucker: The acknowledged head of your own religion and God’s voice in the mortal world said “I believe that morally everyone must take the vaccine.” “It is the moral choice because it is about your life but also the lives of others.”
Ken
@MisterForkbeard: I suspect Burke is of the #notmypope faction.
catclub
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Catholics, you don’t petition the Big Guy directly, you peitition Mary, who in turn nags Jesus until he gets the Big Guy to back off.
The Episcopal Prayerbook has a line that is very memorable for me, and also a stick in the eye to all the Marianites: “…Jesus Christ, our ONLY mediator, and advocate.” my caps, unfortunately.
and in the venting column, woman at church who refused to get vaccinated because “… I am immune compromised..”, has now come down with covid… and so has all her family. Who were also not vaccinated. Did she bother to tell them “I am immune compromised so you should get vaccinated to protect me”? I don’t think so. I am pretty sure her actual objection was trump based.
catclub
@Ken:
Except for all the men in the opus dei boys club.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
It’s a legit poll, been around for years. That doesn’t tell us if they’ll sell your email address after you respond tho, does it?
MagdaInBlack
@Ken: Yes but those women remembered their “place.” They did what women were supposed to do: stay in the background and keep the place running while the men did the important ceremonial stuff.
The new generation got all mouthy and stuff and ruined it for the guys
( recovered Catholic here)
scav
Random thoughts.
What is it with clan Burke that so enjoys stacking up the dead bodies for personal gain?
I’m really beginning to distrust anybody in a red hat of whatever shape. Well, at least it will suit into their teleogically appointed destination. They’ll blend right in.
Other thoughts all duplicated above — you guys are quick.
NorthLeft12
Speaking as an ex-Catholic, it is assholes like Cardinal Burke who are the modern face of the Roman Catholic Church.
The pope will not be able to fundamentally change the church for the better until these asshats are retired.
yellowdog
@NorthLeft12: I call myself a recovering Catholic. Because there is still one tiny part of me that is convinced I’m going to Hell because I haven’t been to Mass in 60 years. It was still in Latin back then.
dopey-o
@Ken: not only is Burke of the “not my pope” faction, many people say he is the Anti-Pope.
He certainly has been a vocal proponent of the “Francis is not the legitimate pope” crowd.
Ken
Well, if he wants to say that the College of Cardinals made an error when they elected Francis, who am I to contradict him?
Miss Bianca
@Jess: Yeah, I’m afraid I’ll have to bookmark that Reddit thread because I just am that bad a person.